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Sunday, 28 September 2008

Losing Weight Whilst Getting Fat

Whilst laid up for the past few days now I had to make the most of the time devoid of human contact - the time when normal people go to work! I haven't been particularlydexterous due to the injury so I've had to find other ways of keeping myself away from Jeremy Kyle and that jumped-up pensioner claiming to be Judge Judy.

Losing weightIt is highly likely that I will pile on the weight now I'm inherently less active and to compensate my sub-conscious mind got me thinking about the pack weight!I decided I'd have a look at my gear list on the spreadsheet again to work out the expected weight of the pack now that I've upgraded some gear and lost a few unnecessary items since Coniston.

The Cumulus sleeping bag has made a huge difference as expected but its the other 'ancillary' items that have began to knock off the weight too. I've changed my fleece layer which shaved off nearly 100g. On top of this I'm being treated to an Aquagear Survivor water filter for my birthday which saves 275g on my MSRMiniworks.

My Nokia N82 is performing the duties of a camara/GPS as well as a phone so saves around 100g if I factor in the Icon-X emergency charger to keep it juiced.

Although last time I planned to bring an empty pillow case (and fill it with spare clothes) I lost my way with this idea before I packed and ended up using my 180g 'pointless pillow'. Now I've got a better, proven solution. That is I will use the terracottaExped dry bag from the Cumulus sleeping bag and fill that with clothes. Because you can trap air inside the bag as well as the clothes for filling, you can really get a plump, usable pillow. This solution also saves me 125g despite accounting for the 55g dry bag.

Retail therapy is always easier than physio therapy so I popped over to TK MAX today having been given the nod about some cheap Marmot gear. I picked up a Marmot Precip water-proof for £30 and this has inadvertently saved me 98g on my TNF water-proof.

These little things and the sleeping bag have saved me over 1900g and I'm adopting the trail shoes approach with the Merrells so I am once again lightening the load there too. I'm pretty excited about getting out to enjoy the hills again and even more so knowing I'll be able to forget about the weight even more than last time.

Not sure how you account for second use weight savings but my take is if you're using the exped to keep your sleeping bag dry during the day then that's were the grams count. Using it as pillow in the evening is a zero gram situation. So I've just saved you another 55g!

Ah come on shuts, give a guy a break when he's trying to milk it for all its worth!

Baz, I love your philosophy on the 55g, especially as its the same view as mine! In reality though the pack is still 55g heavier though as I wouldn't have brought this with the old bag so its a consequence of the new s/bag.

Either way though, I'm well happy and the 16th cannot come quick enough!

Try this - old sleeping bag and pillow = X, new sleeping bag and dry bag = Y. We know the value of X>Y so X-Y is your overall net weight saving. It matters not that you have to now pack the dry bag for the sleeping bag.

I am all for shaving weight of the load carried. I am busy cutting a bit of mine. Just like my air mattress and DSLR camera. One thing, Don't ditch the stuff sack for your tent, as when it is a soggy mess after a nights rain, you'll regret not having it to pack away neat and tidy to strap to your pack.

Sorry, I do feel for you, I've broken a lot of bones!!See if you can find a local phisio that does laser treatment, this can apparently stimulate the bone growth and speed up the recovery. I know a lot of bike racers have used it, especailly on collar bones, and been able to race again within a couple of weeks, I was off for 8 weeks, and it stillwasn't joined properly. It may be partly placebo but it could get you active sooner.http://www.lightspeedphysio.com/laser_therapy.htm

Martin, I'd be particularly interested to hear how you're saving weight on your dslr because this has been a real annoyance for me. Mine weighs at least a kilo with lens and battery. Now I've got my baseweight down I'd like to think again about bringing it but I feel a kilo is just too much. Geoff from vg recommended a chest pouch but I'm not yet sold on the idea.

Hi Marcus on the DSLR issue. I dont have a case for it as it packs in the rucksack, wrapped in spare clothing. Simple, and the dry sack keeps it safe as well. Saves on weight. Just means you have to stop and take of the pack more for a photo. As you noticed I did a sheet of my kit at this time, minus fuel,food, and water as stated on the posting. Like you I find it helpfull to see what I dont need and where I can make a change or two....great fun as the planning builds up the excitment for the walk to come.

The Dude, having a little time off sick can do wonders for your pack weight. I missed a day the other week with a bad cold managed some serious rationalising and lost one 'spare' torch, half my first aid kit, one small exped drybag and a lip balm. Hey, it all adds up!